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Tag Archives: modern

I’ll admit that the Spec Ops mode certainly tempts me. By all accounts, it sounds completely *awesome* – and if were released as it’s own mini-game (akin on Crysis Warhead or similar), I’d buy it in a heartbeat.

It’s a shame the rest of the game doesn’t quite stack up.

Lag? You bet. Within a matter of minutes I’d been fragged by a bouncing avatar that transported itself across the map, and that doesn’t include the noticeable banana bullets that occur just too frequently to ignore. Based on this, it’s fairly clear to see why they’ve limited the game to nine per side, I’d hate to see what it looks like with Modern Warfare’s original 64 player limit, presumably like a very tedious slide show from a trip to Borneo. It’s of absolutely no interest to me how well the rest of the developed world can play this title online, if it’s a miserable experience for Kiwi players then Infinity Ward have dropped the ball, plain and simple.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for the PC is simply a next-gen console game with mouse support, in-game text chat and rudimentary graphics options. Infinity Ward have made it pretty clear that as a PC gamer, your platform advantages don’t count, and neither does your community, your history and your considerable modding skills.

To say multiplayer MW2 is flawed would be like saying water is a little wet – an understatement if I’ve ever seen one.

GameArena says:

We’re massive fans of Modern Warfare here. Even though purists and elitists may sneer, we had no problem in awarding a 10/10 for Call of Duty 4, because it was such a terrific effort on console AND PC. If you told me three months ago we would be suggesting PC gamers hold off on buying Modern Warfare 2 I would have thought you’re crazy. But if you are buying this game mainly for multiplayer – especially if you’re contemplating serious competitive play at a high level – that’s exactly what we’re saying. The single player story is great, and if your idea of multiplayer is a quick zap with mates maybe an hour or two a week then by all means – it’s great for your purposes. However if you’re a Counterstrike, Battlefield, ETQW or even a COD4 player looking for a serious competitive platform to move to – best wait. Wait and see if Infinity Ward can implement dedicated server support; failing that wait until early next year to see how Battlefield: Bad Company 2 turns out.

Don’t get me wrong – from what I’ve read, it’s a great console FPS – fantastic, even. It’s just a huge shame to see the PC side be so neglected, disowned, that it kinda makes you think Infinity Ward have shunned the PC community, Big Time.

It’s not all doom and gloom for us PC players, though – the single player is excellent, and as I’ve mentioned before, Spec Ops will keep you entertained for a decent number of hours after you’ve finished the relatively short single player campaign (roughly 6-8 hours).

It’s current price on Steam is laughable – a cool US $90 for us Aussies, compared to $60 for the same game? Right. I know I can buy it from Steamerica for cheaper, but that’s not the point, is it?

The point is, Infinity Ward have seemingly screwed over PC players.

I think it’s only fair that they get screwed over themselves – but one can only dream…

We thought the lack of dedicated servers was bad, but now we can add the lack of console commands, the inability to have a say in who hosts the game, a lengthy pause while the game migrates to a new host if the currently selected host quits, no leaning, no option to record matches, and no way to kick or block trouble players, hackers, or cheaters.

You have to wonder if there are any actual PC gamers working at Infinity Ward, as it will be a challenge to find any member of the PC gaming community that will stand up for any of these omissions, not to mention all of them bundled together. At launch, this will be one of the most locked-down, inflexible, and gamer-unfriendly game ever created.

_oneliner is a self-reflexive installation consiting of a long line of interconnected VGA monitors, 64 in total. Each driven by a microcontroller, the monitors form a line of characters, like a giant ticker tape in which each monitor is limited to displaying a single character. The monitors are connected through self-designed and built “open” hardware. The work itself also reflects this openness: all wirings and microchips are exposed to the public’s critical inspection.

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Every VGA monitor is capable of displaying a single character. Every monitor is run by a microcontroller which generates a VGA signal for a specific character. The Arduino is the controller of the installation: it continuously decides which monitor in the row displays which character, thus creating animations. There are 8 possible “programs” which can be run. The program number can be set using the 3 switches on the arduino shield, and pressing the reset button on the arduino. The LED then blinks as an indicator that it is running.